Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech Celebrates New Facility
(Originally published by California Institute of Technology)
March 4, 2008
The Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) at the California Institute of Technology recently celebrated the completion of its new cleanroom facility -- a facility that "will provide researchers at Caltech access to a state-of-the-art fabrication facility with a suite of equipment unparalleled by any other cleanroom facility in the world," said Axel Scherer, Caltech's Neches Professor of Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, and Physics, and director of the KNI.
Ribbon cutting ceremony for new facilities. (From left: David H. Auston, president, The Kavli Foundation; Jean-Lou Chameau, president, California Institute of Technology; Jim Omura, technology strategist, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Axel Scherer, director, Kavli Nanoscience Institute.)
Research in the facility will involve nanotechnology-based platforms that allow scientists to detect a multitude of proteins in the body at one time. These techniques will enhance the speed, accuracy, capabilities, and cost-effectiveness of in vitro diagnostic testing, providing real-time results for early detection of a variety of diseases, including cancers, virus infections such as AIDS and flu, and chronic conditions such as multiple sclerosis or diabetes, without invasive procedures.
A core mission of the KNI is to drive the state of the art in nanofabrication, the process of designing and manufacturing devices that are nanometers in size. To this end, the KNI is developing strategic instrumentation for advancing nanofabrication capabilities. The centralized, multi-user laboratories and cleanrooms within the KNI will enhance interactions between scientists of different disciplines by providing contiguous research space. The facilities are available to users from both academia and industry.
Attendees of the March 4 ribbon-cutting celebration included Jean-Lou Chameau, president, California Institute of Technology; Jim Omura, technology strategist, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Axel Scherer, director, Kavli Nanoscience Institute; David Baltimore, President Emeritus and Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Biology, Caltech; Thomas E. Everhart, President Emeritus of Caltech and member of The Kavli Foundation board of directors; Michael Roukes, professor of physics and past director of KNI; and David H. Auston, president, The Kavli Foundation.